Searching for the right balance between the highs and lows of diabetes

Still wondering.

So… I’m somewhere around three weeks until the next appointment with my endocrinologist.

My last several A1cs have been excellent for someone living with Type 1 Diabetes.

But how have I gotten there? I wonder.

Did I get there with perfect blood sugar numbers all the time?

Did I get there with lots of lows?

If I had a lot of lows, did I do more damage to my overall health than that A1c number is worth? For the record, my basal insulin delivered versus my bolus insulin delivered always turns out to be pretty much what they are supposed to be, I’m told.

But still… What if I’m using too much insulin to knock down potential highs, leaving me with extra insulin that’s just going to get stored around my midsection? Honestly, I’m really worried about that.

What if those lows are killing off brain cells, causing other issues that I haven’t imagined up until now?

What if my A1c looks good, but my highs and lows go up and down through the day like an EKG, instead of like a normal person’s pancreas works?

After reading this, I can see why my endo doesn’t pay much attention to A1cs. A variance of 0.3 either way from one test to the next is “pretty much the same” to him. I certainly give it more importance than he does.

With that said, don’t fool yourself into thinking a non-D’s blood sugar is straight and steady. I know, both from talking to a CGM rep (who wears a CGM for business purposes but doesn’t have diabetes) and from testing my own kids’ BGs in moments of parental paranoia, that a non-D blood sugar can go as low as the 50s and as high as the 140s (perhaps even more) in a single day. So if you’re setting your targets tighter than that, it’ll be quite difficult.

Personally, I try not to work towards targets or make too many self-assessments. I just do my best, and the results are what they are. If I have regrets, they come from knowing I made a poor choice, not from a test result not reaching some arbitrary target.

You seem to be on top of the game and aware of what’s going on in your body. No one can ask for more, regardless of the numbers…

A Disclaimer

I have no medical training. If you consider anything written here as medical, legal, financial, or any other kind of advice, you’re out of your mind. Please speak to a learned professional before making any changes that might affect your health. Any of the original content found on this site is my property and should not be reproduced, copied, or otherwise used without the author’s expressed written consent.